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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957788">Queen of Ice, Mistress of Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yennefer_Maleficent_Black/pseuds/Yennefer_Maleficent_Black'>Yennefer_Maleficent_Black</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:28:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23957788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yennefer_Maleficent_Black/pseuds/Yennefer_Maleficent_Black</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a legend, about the Queen of Ice and her curse, which can only be brought under control by the Mistress of Fire. Yennefer doesn't quite believe in those kinds of legends. At first, that is.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tissaia de Vries/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>70</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Queen of Ice, Mistress of Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: Neither the characters nor the world of The Witcher belong to me. I make no profit off of this and no copyright infringement was intended.<br/>Here is a little one-shot, based on the prompt of a Tumblr-anon. I hope this pleases you.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A week had gone by since the battle at Sodden had taken place. Five days it had taken Yennefer to get her strength and her sight back. And now that she had, she was prowling the area around Sodden Hill.</p>
<p>It was late summer, and yet something cold was in the air. Something was off, but the sorceress could not quite pinpoint what. It was in the air all around her, a strange sensation. As though something cold had overcome the land.</p>
<p>Stumbling into a village, she noticed something of interest. Frost had overcome everything. There was white everywhere. Covering the houses, the well in the middle of a small square, even the doors were covered in a thin layer of ice.</p>
<p>The few villagers that were out and about avoided her, looking at her in disgust. She couldn’t blame them, seeing as she was still wearing the same dress she had put on for the battle. It was caked with mud and blood as the woman was too lazy to actually waste her Chaos on something like that.</p>
<p>The battle…. Yennefer had gone to the field she had burned down in her rage, only to find that same sheen of frost covering the grass around the rock she had stood on. Silently, she had wondered what happened after she had gone, but nobody could tell her. The only thing the peasants were willing to tell her was that she was now dubbed the ‘Mistress of Fire’, and she didn’t even object to that.</p>
<p>One of the villagers, an old lady, did not look at her in disgust. Age had probably taken her sense of smell, something Yennefer would be thankful for on some days. Carefully, she approached the woman, asking, “ma’am, sorry to disturb your evening, I’d just like to know what happened here. Did the Wild Hunt ride through?”</p>
<p>A nearly toothless grin entered the woman’s face as she shook her head softly. Patting the raven-haired woman’s hand, she said, “nay, child. Nothing quite as drastic. Though I do worry about the Queen of Ice. There was a legend about a sorceress, you see, one that had ice running through her veins. She learned to control them long ago, but she seems to have lost that control, as you can see. Something must have upset her.”</p>
<p>Slightly taken aback, Yennefer stared at the old woman as she tried to make sense of her words. A Queen of Ice? Really? What kind of myths and legends did this region have? Not wanting to insult the woman, she softly said, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I quite understand. Are you saying a sorceress did this?”</p>
<p>“Oh missy, I don’t believe she did it on purpose. In fact, she seemed quite distressed when she came through here. She shouted a name, you know. Yennefer. She shouted that over and over again.” The woman was making less and less sense by the second. The people of Sodden and their fairy tales. But Yennefer wondered who the woman was that had come through if she had been calling her name.</p>
<p>When it became clear that the sorceress was nowhere near understanding what she was on about, the woman continued, “you see, girl, the myth says that the Queen of Ice needs the Mistress of Fire should her powers get out of control, and the other way around. See, I don’t know what happened at the battlefield a week ago, but I do know that the Queen of Ice is now looking for the one person who can help control her powers. Apparently, she believes this Yennefer to be that person.”</p>
<p>It was certainly intriguing, this story of hers. And if there was a sorceress that ran around looking for a Yennefer, she would like to know who that was. Maybe it was Tissaia, even. She had come to her during the battle because she had asked, who was to say she was not going after her now. According to the Temerian soldiers who had taken up camp at the Hill, the brunette had been nowhere to be found.</p>
<p>Thinking quickly, she came to the decision that she would go after this Queen of Ice. Even if the legend weren’t true, she was called the Mistress of Fire now for a reason, so what could a little ice do. There was nothing she should be scared of, so she wasn’t. The only thing about this she didn’t like was the possibility of it not being Tissaia because then it would have been a waste of time.</p>
<p>As she looked into brown eyes once more, she asked the woman if she could be kind enough to tell her where said Queen had gone off to. In response, the woman lifted a crooked finger and pointed into the direction of the forest. Yennefer was already a few paces away from her when she heard the croaky voice call after her, “just you follow the ice, Mistress, and you shall soon find your Queen.”</p>
<p>How the woman knew who she was, was beyond Yennefer. She also didn’t particularly care as she was in search of the woman who had held her heart ever since she had saved her from that pig farm. There had been a time where she had thought she’d grow out of it, and a time where she even ran away from it, but her feelings for the rectoress of Aretuza held true.</p>
<p>A burning sensation filled her lungs as she hurried towards the edge of the forest, careful not to slip on the ice. She wouldn’t want to break her neck in the middle of nowhere with nobody around to potentially help her. Not that much could help against a broken neck.</p>
<p>Dutifully, she followed the ice. For what felt like an eternity, if she was honest, though it was likely just about half an hour. Half an hour and she found herself standing in front of a wall of ice. As she narrowed her eyes, she brought her right hand up to it, willing it to melt. To nobody’s surprise, it did.</p>
<p>The faint sound of someone sobbing got to her ears by the time she was almost through. It made her consider turning back right then and there, for she thought that her Tissaia would never cry. Least of all in the middle of a forest. But her instinct told her to press on, and so she did, stepping into a cave of ice.</p>
<p>It was cold, she observed, and she noticed that she was bringing in a fresh wave of oxygen supply. That made her wonder how long the woman had been sitting in here for, and whether she had cared about the prospect of suffocating at all.</p>
<p>Violet eyes found a figure cowering in the middle of the cave. A figure she would never mistake anywhere in this world. As relief washed over her, she breathed, “Tissaia, you’re alive,” only to have the woman startle and move away from her.</p>
<p>“Stay back, Yennefer. I’m warning you, my powers are not in control. It’s… I’m a monster of sorts,” the rectoress sniffed miserably. As always, Yennefer was having none of it. Not the concern and not the command. It wasn’t like she hated commands from Tissaia, she was just very selective about which ones to listen to.</p>
<p>“You’re not a monster, Tissaia, you’re the Queen of Ice if that crone in the village is to be believed. Lucky for you, I’m apparently the Mistress of Fire. I’m not scared of you, Tissaia. Even if you managed to hurt me, I know you don’t mean it.” Her reassurance only quenched a few of the woman’s worries, it seemed, for she still pushed back into the wall.</p>
<p>Taking matters into her own hands, Yennefer briskly moved forward and knelt down next to the woman of her dreams. Gently, she took Tissaia’s shaking hands into her own and squeezed them slightly. Looking deep into those blue depths, she said, “see, nothing to worry about. I’m here now, Tiss, and there is nothing you could do to get rid of me again, not before I bring you home safe and sound.”</p>
<p>Wonder filled Tissaia’s eyes and she tilted her head, asking, “home?” It was obvious that the woman didn’t want to get her hopes up. Hopes that Yennefer could actually be talking about Aretuza, or that she had any intention of staying with her afterwards. Considering their history, nobody could blame either woman for choosing the simple way of just running away.</p>
<p>Neither woman wanted the simple way, though. Even if they didn’t know it, they both wanted the other, no matter what it took to make it work. Anything except force, that is.</p>
<p>“Aretuza, Tissaia. But you need to calm down before you freeze the entire continent,” Yennefer chuckled softly as she cupped Tissaia’s cheek with her left hand. At this moment, she found the rectoress to be quite endearing.</p>
<p>Without a warning, Tissaia shot forward, throwing her arms around the woman in front of her. She clung onto her as though she feared Yennefer could vanish at any moment. When Tissaia was sure that she wouldn’t, she whispered, “you are here. You aren’t dead.”</p>
<p>Yennefer snorted indignantly, pushed her back softly and asked, “whatever gave you the ridiculous idea that anyone could kill me after I turned half an army to ash?” At that, Tissaia gave her the slightest of smiles before cupping her cheek, whispering that she had been half convinced she’d never see the woman again.</p>
<p>Had the situation been different, this would have been the perfect time to tease Tissaia about being caught crying, but she didn’t. For once in her life, Yennefer was sensible. She also knew that there would be more than enough time to tease Tissaia about that at a later point in time.</p>
<p>Leaning into the touch, Yennefer covered the hand at her cheek with her own as she whispered, “please know that I would not leave you alone in this cruel world, not without telling you how much I love you first.”</p>
<p>Baffled, the brunette stared at Yennefer, neither woman realising that the ice cave around them was slowly shrinking away. Moving closer to the raven-haired woman, Tissaia asked, “you love me?”</p>
<p>As though the mere notion of that not being the case was the most ridiculous thing on earth, Yennefer replied, “obviously. Do you think I would be here if that weren’t the case?” Truth be told she wouldn’t be. Deep down, Yennefer was selfish enough to only ensure the safety of the people she loved.</p>
<p>The brunette hugged her close once more, this time more slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted to. But Yennefer didn’t want to. In fact, she very much liked Tissaia being openly affectionate for the first time in her life. Tissaia’s next whisper was so quiet that she almost didn’t hear her when she said, “I love you too, Yennefer.”</p>
<p>She understood that the whole thing was a bit much for the woman, so Yennefer waited patiently until Tissaia let go of her again. She needed this, after all. Both of them did. When she was free again, she stood quickly, reaching out to lend Tissaia a hand as she said, “well then, let’s go home before another war catches us here. We deserve a break.”</p>
<p>A soft smile formed on Tissaia’s face, and she took Yennefer’s arm without hesitation as they walked through the portal Yennefer had just conjured up.  They stood just outside the gates of the school when the brunette was struck with an idea. Looking at the woman next to her, she asked, “say, Yennefer, have you ever been to Toussaint? I hear it’s quite nice this time of the year.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me know what you think :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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